I don't do this myself, but I know many people like to eat the bodies of their pets after they die. Of course, in the U.S. it's usually illegal to eat the kind of animal that would be considered a pet but not always. I have a friend who ate his pet chickens after they died (He didn't raise them for food. They lived in the house with them and after they died he'd eat them). How do you feel about this? Personally, even though I don't do it I still don't look down on people who do. After all, the pet is already dead. What are they going to do to hurt it?
Well, there's two different reasons I would never do this. One, I just don't want to consume my pets. And two, when any of my animals die, its beyond my control, meaning disease, sickness, or bodily failure, which doesn't leave for good quality meat.
You make a good point. I was wondering how it would affect the quality of the meat if the animal died of old age first. I imagine it might be too gamy or maybe just not as nutritious. Could you give some insight as to why meat from animals that died of old age isn't as high quality?
Well, nothing truly dies simply of old age, the advanced age is the cause of some type(s) of failure. Many cats, and some dogs, die from renal failure at an advanced age for a common example, and I would think that can't be good, add at that point the kidneys can no longer filter contaminants and toxins from the blood, and much of what's in the blood builds up in the muscle tissue (meat). Especially if it was a slow onset of kidney failure.
Either way, I wouldn't want to eat any of my animals anyways.